‘My first thought was suicide’

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When Spike Dolomite Ward, 50, was told that she had breast cancer, her first
thought was of suicide. She had no insurance and the cost of treatment would
mean that her family lost their home and her children, Max and Sophie, could
not go to university. She thought “everybody would be better off if this was
just over real quick”, she said. Mrs Ward and her husband worked freelance
and could not afford private insurance.

Under President Obama’s healthcare law, she qualified for treatment under
state provisions. Mrs Ward underwent a double mastectomy last week and her
hormone and radiation